Relations
by AikoTsuki
Summary: When a new teacher comes to Scare School, things get... interesting. Even more so when they have to deal with mysteries and paranormal politics.
1. Introductions

**I don't own Casper's Scare School. Don't expect any more disclaimers, you already know what I do and don't own. **

**BTW, any references Katrina makes comes from a story _I'M_ writing, so no more questions.**

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><p>"Are you sure you want to do this?" the black cat asked from his perch. "Witches and monsters don't exactly get along any more. Ever since, well..."<p>

She nodded."Yeah. Clanhead wants me to do this, so I'm doing it. I'm our only Dark Witch, so it's our only chance at reviving old relations."

"Still... not many people like you, anyways. What would your parents think?"

She looked away.

"Katrina?"

"We're about to land," she said, ignoring the cat as she angled down sharply. She smiled, loving the feel of the wind whipping through her hair. She came to a sudden stop two feet above the ground, inches from Alder and Dash.

"Are you the witch?" Dash asked.

She nodded, sliding off her broom as the cat jumped onto her shoulder. "I am Katrina Bloodcraven, and this is Edgar."

She could already see what Edgar meant earlier. She'd only just arrived, and the two were already eyeing her warily.

She sighed. She had her work cut out for her.

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><p>Two days later, everyone was coming back from summer vacation. And everyone wanted to know about the mysterious new teacher they'd heard about.<p>

"What do you think she's like?" Ra asked.

"I don't know," Casper said. "But I hope she's nice."

"I heard she's a witch," Thatch said. Everyone gasped.

"What's wrong with witches?" Casper asked.

"Don't you know?" Martha asked. "Witches hunt us. They kill vampires and werewolves, destroy zombies, turn ghosts to dust."

"Aww come on, I'm sure that's not true."

"Oh, it's true all right," Thatch said.

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><p>Alder, Dash, and Kibosh were waiting for the students when they arrived.<p>

"As I'm sure many of you know, this year we are getting a new teacher," Dash started.

"In an attempt to improve relations with other supernatural races, this scare school is taking on a witch as your Cryptobiology teacher," Kibosh announced. "I would like to introduce you to Miss Bloodcraven."

A young woman stepped onto the stage. Long, wavy hair flowed down her back reaching her knees. She was dressed in scarlet, jade green eyes regarding them with a mysterious air. She carried a broomstick, and a black cat rode on her shoulder.

The next day, everyone awaited Cryptobiology with a degree of nervous anticipation and excitement. Miss Bloodcraven was waiting for them, and had written "Cryptobiology" on the board.

"How many of you know what this class is about?" Miss Bloodcraven asked.

"Umm... Cryptobiology?" Ra asked. Everyone laughed.

The teacher gave an exasperated sigh, then started writing on the board. "Cryptobiology is the study of all living things that make some use of magic. The science is divided into four categories- monsters, faeries, sorcerers, and magical plants. Seeing as you know about the first branch, we will be focusing on the remaining three."

She pointed at the second branch- "Faerie." "Faeries are much more than the tiny, annoying, winged creatures everyone thinks of. Trolls, hobgoblins, mermaids, and many other creatures fall into this category."

She pointed to the third branch. "Sorcerers are magic-using humanoids. In other words, witches and magicians."

"What's the difference?" Thatch asked.

"Magicians are human. Witches are not." She pointed to the fourth branch. "Magical plants... well, that's a pretty self-explanatory name." She then turned to the class. "Now, you will have an assignment that is due at the end of the year. You are to work in groups to study a creature from one of the three branches I just named. To make sure you're actually working, parts of your research will be due periodically. The creature is your choice, as are your partners. I'm giving the rest of today to chose groups and figure out what you want to learn about." She gestured at the books on the shelf next to her. "I would suggest using the Encyclopedia Magica."


	2. Why do you hate me?

**Candykaykay2001: (Bowing) thank you**

**Matteso585: Yeah. Here's some of that.**

**Here we go!**

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><p>Miss Bloodcraven was the kind of teacher everyone liked. She let you sleep and eat in class- so long as you weren't a distraction. Even though she gave homework almost every night and she was absolutely terrifying when she was mad, she was pretty nice to her students. Everyone adored her. Well, almost everyone.<p>

It had been almost a week of classes. Almost every single day, Thatch came up with some sort of way to mess with the teacher. No one had any solid evidence, but they knew it was him. He hated her, for some strange reason.

Today was the day she finally snapped. Well, that wasn't the only thing that snapped. The words "Aquatic Faeries" had been written on the board. She always had something written on the board, whatever the lesson was about that day. The teacher had left the room, apparently to get something out of the closet attached to her classroom. The students were left to themselves, with only the cat to keep watch.

Thatch couldn't contain himself. Miss Bloodcraven's wand, a crooked mahogany stick, was sitting right there on the desk. Unguarded. While everyone was distracted by talking to each other, he quietly walked up to the desk and snapped the wand in two before sneaking back to his desk. No one noticed. Or so he thought.

The teacher walked back into the room the second he sat down. "Now what I have here is a-"

She noticed the broken item on the desk. "My- my wand." She whirled on the students. "What happened to my wand?!" she whispered. A dark aura was emanating from her. She didn't have to scream or shout, and yet everyone was to afraid to say anything.

The cat leapt onto the desk. "Thatch broke it. I watched him do it."

Her eyes flared with anger. A burst of energy threw him into the opposite wall, busting a hole in it. Then she collapsed onto the floor, sobbing.

Casper flew over to her. "Miss Bloodcraven! It's gonna be all right, I promise."

"Slither and I will take Thatch to the Headmaster," Mantha said, grabbing Thatch's hand. "You guys try to calm down the teacher."

"What's so special about your wand?" Dummygirl asked. "It's just a stick."

"It was my mother's," she sobbed. "It's one of the only things I have left of her. Besides... my broom," she whispered, looking at the item against the wall.

"Thatch's gone too far this time," Ra declared.

"Why does he hate her?" Casper wondered.


	3. A Little Problem

**Candykaykay2001: Yeah, I'll try to make them longer. This one was short mainly because not much was going on.**

**Ghostvirtuvirus: Heh, that's what you'd think.**

**SilversLittleAngel: Glad you like it. Yeah, witches... just seem to belong in Scare School, especially the way I'm making them. More on that later, maybe in this chapter.**

**And on to the story! Sorry if anyone's a fan of Thatch, I kind of pick on him a bit in this chapter.**

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><p>It was the next day. Miss Bloodcraven was still pretty upset about the loss of her wand, but she was still doing her best to make her classes engaging. Like releasing live Puffballs into the classroom. The creatures weren't very bright, but it was still pretty funny when one landed on Thatch's head and decided to take a nap.<p>

"Get it off me!" he shouted, pulling on the fuzzy, round creature. The Puffball simply snorted and clung tighter. The fact that everyone was laughing probably made him even more frustrated.

"Calm down," Miss Bloodcraven said. "Even your breathing, it's reacting to stress."

Growling, Thatch obeyed the teacher. She then gently pried the Puffball off his head and placed it in the cage with the rest. She turned to the class. "I hope you all see why Puffballs are a popular pet choice, other than the fact that they glow in the dark. Tonight I want you all to research and list the various uses people have found for today's creatures. Class dismissed."

Casper, Ra and Mantha stayed behind to help the teacher clean up and put away the creatures. "That was fun!" Ra said.

Miss Bloodcraven smiled. "I was hoping it would be. Maybe I should use live demonstrations more often."

Casper was still wondering about why Thatch would hate such a great teacher. At first he thought it was because she looked like a fleshie, but a closer look at the witch revealed some striking differences. For example- her eyes. They weren't human, they were more cat-like. Her body was translucent, almost see-through. And her ears were long and thin and pointy, like drawings of elves. Now he understood what she'd meant when she said "Magicians are humans. Witches are not."

"Casper? You're staring at the teacher," Mantha said.

"Oh. Sorry." He looked at the witch. "Are you getting a new wand soon?" He asked her.

She smiled. "Yes. I ordered a new one, but it won't be here for a few weeks." She sighed. "So I guess I'll be pretty much powerless for a while."

"So... witches get their powers from their wands?" Mantha asked.

"No. We are able to use magic- our greatest strength- with Mediums such as wands. Monsters don't necessarily _need _Mediums to use magic, which is a huge advantage."

"Monsters can use magic?" Ra asked.

Miss Bloodcraven nodded. "You got it. Of course, they haven't taught magic in schools for ages."

"Why?" Casper asked, moments before Dummygirl burst into the room.

"Miss Bloodcraven, Thatch shrunk!"

She looked over at Dummygirl. "What happened?"

"Well, Thatch was going to the cafeteria with the rest of us when all of a sudden there was this 'POOF!' and he turned small!"

"Where is he now?"

"Edgar's chasing him."

Miss Bloodcraven left the room with her students, following Dummygirl into the hallway near the cafeteria, where the black cat was chasing a 2-inch tall Thatch.

"I'll deal with Edgar," the teacher said. "Slither, Mantha, Casper, you guys try to catch Thatch."

A few minutes later, Thatch was in Casper's hands and Edgar was running away from the area, howling with pain. Casper handed the shrunken vampire over to Miss Bloodcraven. She held him up to her face. "Thatch, what happened?"

"Why should I tell _you?" _he said defiantly.

"Because I can help, but only if I know what happened."

He sighed. "It was Edgar, okay? He gave me this chocolate, said it was because I freaked out in your class. I ate it, and I shrunk."

She shook her head. "I figured Edgar was involved somehow. At least it's just chocolate laced with shrinking dust. That's easy to undo."

"Shrinking dust?" Casper asked.

Miss Bloodcraven nodded. "Yeah. The pixies use it as part of their pranks sometimes. Drives everyone nuts. There's a simple spell that will change him back." She grinned. "I have an idea. Casper, Mantha, why don't _you _cast the spell?"

"But, we don't have wands or anything!" Mantha said.

"Magic 101: wands are only necessary if you're a witch. They're helpful, but you don't need them. I'll make you kids a deal- pull this off, and I'll teach everyone magic."

"Okay!" everyone cheered.

"Since you two are beginners, it would be best to actually touch Thatch. That way your magic knows where to go." Miss Bloodcraven explained after setting Thatch on the ground. The pair nodded, obeying her instructions.

"Now focus. Imagine the energy coursing through your body, out your fingers, and into Thatch. Then repeat after me-'Cer.'"

"Cer."

"Volver á normalidade."

"Volver á normalidade."

There was a massive flash of light. When everyone could see again, Thatch was back to normal. But Miss Bloodcraven didn't look well. Her face was paler than usual, she stumbled a bit before grabbing a wall.

"Looks like trying to help you kids wasn't such a good idea," she said.

"Let's help Miss Bloodcraven back to her room," Casper said. "Thatch, you should come too."

The halls were empty, since everyone else was at dinner. Casper took advantage of the moment to ask his question- "Hey Thatch, why don't you like Miss Bloodcraven?"

The teacher was the one to respond. "Because I was partly responsible for his brother's death."


	4. Explanations

**SilversLittleAngel: Well, you're about to find out what happened.**

**Matteso585: I forgot that. Sorry.**

**GhostVirtuvirus: The death of a relative is always a possibility for hatred.**

**And now to reveal the truth behind Thatch's brother's death! I apologize in advance, the chapter's a bit short.**

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><p>"WHAAAAAT?!" everyone shouted, except Thatch- of course.<p>

Miss Bloodcraven nodded as Capser helped her sit down. "Even though Serafino's death was six years ago, it all started almost twenty years ago. You see, Dark witches are responsible for protecting monsters from humans and vice versa. I was assigned to deal with a supposed vampire that had gone into a feeding frenzy, attacking humans all over Chicago. I met Fino while working. He wasn't the culprit, but he was the one that saved me. We became good friends, and he often came with me on assignments. I was eventually partnered with a warlock named Jacob, and we were called to deal with an extremely dangerous monster that was destroying everything in it's path, also accumulating a small army of followers. As Jacob and I were called to deal with the monster- Valemore, Fino decided to join us."

She looked away. "It ended badly. As it turned out, the monster gained complete control over whomever it touched, and the first one of us it touched was Fino. Valemore decided to have Fino kill us, then Fino would kill himself. I was forced to fight my best friend. Death was the only thing that would set him free, but I could bring myself to kill him. So Jacob did it for me."

Casper noticed she was holding her necklace- a silver ring on a chain worn around her neck. "What's that?" he asked.

"My engagement ring. Fino proposed to me, the day before he died."

"WHAT?!" Thatch screamed.

She nodded. "We were going to tell you and your parents, but he died before we got the chance." She looked like she was about to start crying.

"I think we should go," Casper said, ushering the others out of the room.

They walked in silence. "How much did you already know?" Casper asked.

"Why should you care?" Thatch asked. "Not much," he admitted a moment later. "I knew he liked her, and that Fino died because he came along, but not much else."

"What do we do now?" Mantha asked. "I mean, maybe we could do something for her."

Casper shrugged. "I don't know. Do you still hate her, Thatch?"

"Not really. I mean, she didn't _want _him to die. It was her fault he came along, but still..."

They all nodded.

The silence was killing Ra. "Well, learning magic should be pretty fun."

"No kidding. I wonder what difference a wand would make?" Casper wondered.

"Who knows?" Mantha said. "She said it makes things easier, though. Maybe we should try and get ourselves wands, if we're gonna be doing magic."


	5. Flashback

**SilversLittleAngel: (blushes) thank you. Actually, you're the one who inspired me to write, so this is a huge compliment,**

**Matteso585: I know it's centered. My computer messed up, sorry about that. And a lot can go wrong, trust me.**

**GhostVirtuvirus: Trouble? You bet.**

**(Takes a bow). Thank you for reading!**

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><p>She closed her eyes. She really hated thinking about that, about what had happened between her and Serafino. It brought back so many memories of when he'd been alive. It was both wonderful and painful.<p>

_The two stood before the Clanhead. Fino had been sneaking into the witch's world to see Katrina, which had gotten them both in a world of trouble. The Clanhead laughed when he heard what was going on. "Young love," he sighed. He then turned to them. "I think I know a way your vampire friend can see you more often without getting into trouble."_

_(*-*)_

_She was lying on her back, Fino on top of her as he drank her blood. For a vampire to drink a witch's blood was no problem, it didn't really affect the witch at all. In the past it used to be a symbol of complete and total love, but witch-vampire romances have become increasingly rare nowadays._

_The experience was painful, but euphoric, similar to what sometimes came afterwards. She knew what her blood did for Fino, it was making him more powerful because she was a Xerador, a witch whose power could be given to someone else. When Fino drank her blood, it made increased his strength tremendously._

_He let her go, stroking her hair. "You're beautiful in the moonlight," he whispered._

_"It's been a while since you've seen me in the _sun_," she pointed out. The Clanhead's solution was to place Katrina in the Underworld to keep an eye on things over there. She could be with Fino and still be useful._

_"I know. Kat, I'm worried about you. What if people learn that you're a Xerador? Some people already think I get my power from you. They've tried to attack you," he said._

_"I'll be fine," she said. "I have you, and that's what matters."_

_"But what if I die? Who will protect you then?"_

_"Don't talk like that!" she whispered._

_"No, this is important. Listen, I'm pretty sure you'll be fine, but what about Thatch? I've tried to shield him from what everyone wants him to be, but if I'm not around... well, they'll convince him to be as mean and scary as possible. I don't want that."_

_"There's no way Thatch would _ever_ be mean," Katrina protested._

_"You never know. Kat, promise me this. Promise me that if I die, you'll take care of my brother. Promise me you'll make sure he grows up to be a good person Promise me you'll keep him safe."_

_"I promise."_

She sighed. That promise was the _real _reason she came here. Fino's parents never let her see Thatch. "I'm sorry, Fino. I failed."

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><p>The next day, Miss Bloodcraven informed the rest of her students that they would also be learning magic in her class. They would study Cryptobiology on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Magic on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Friday would be a free day to study and work on their projects, if they didn't cause too much trouble.<p>

"However, this will not begin until I get my new wand, in about two weeks," Miss Bloodcraven announced. The entire class groaned.

Casper raised his hand. "Would it help if we got our own wands?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes. Monsters don't need wands to cast spells, but they sure do help if you're a beginner. That way, you can channel the magic in the right direction. Otherwise, you might cast a spell on something you weren't trying to. If you want, I can take all of you to a wand shop in the witch's world on Friday."

The entire class cheered. Miss Bloodcraven smiled. "It's settled then. Now, on to today's lesson."

"Wow, we get to go to the witch's world," Ra said as they left class. "I wonder what it's like."

"I dunno," Casper said. "I wish Friday was tomorrow. Too bad it's only Wednesday."


	6. NeoAvalon

**SilversLittleAngel: Well, he might find out, he might not. We'll just have to wait and see.**

**Okay, so I wrote the entire chapter to "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. It fits the relationship between Fino and Katrina. How... well, that will be revealed later.**

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><p>"Woohoo!" Ra shouted at breakfast. "IT'S FRIDAY!" Everyone in the cafeteria cheered.<p>

"I wonder what the witch's world will be like?" Casper wondered. Yesterday, Miss Bloodcraven gave them a brief overview of witches, but they still didn't know much about Bordeaux, their country.

When they walked into the classroom, a huge space had been cleared in the floor. Three rings had been drawn on the floor, one inside another. In the center was a hexagram inside a twelve-pointed star. Various runes were scattered about the diagram.

"This is a portal diagram," Miss Bloodcraven explained. "The runes are to hold open the portal for six hours max, and specify the location of the exit portal. I'm about to activate the portal, so please step inside the hexagram."

She touched the edge of the diagram, placing both hands on the outer circle. "Activar." The diagram started to glow darkly, starting from Miss Bloodcraven's hands and spreading to the rest. She joined her students as the diagram turned into a swirling vortex and pulled them through.

The class was ejected through a mirror on the other side, landing on the sidewalk. The teacher stood, dusting herself off. "Welcome to the capital city of NeoAvalon!"

They all looked around. Old-fashioned European-style buildings clashed with the huge skyscrapers and holographic billboards and light-rail trains beside them. Witches rushed around about them, some on foot, others on brooms.

"This way, kids!" the teacher called, leading through the crowd. She took them to a small store with a sign that read "Morrow's Brooms and Wands."

Inside were wands and brooms of all shapes and types. Sitting behind the counter was a wizened old man. His face lit up when they entered. "Katrina! It's so good to see you!" he exclaimed, squeezing the younger witch tightly.

She smiled, hugging him back. "It's good to see you too, Eric."

He released her. "Are these your students?"

She nodded, then turned to the class. "Now, picking out a wand is no simple task. Depending on the person, certain types of wands will work for them and others will be completely useless. For example, I can only use wands made from Ceylon ebony. In order to test if a wand will work for you, simply pick one up and imagine your magical energy flowing through the wand." She picked up an ebony wand. A few seconds later a small burst of lightning shot out of the wand. "If that happens, you know the wand will work."

The first two to find a wand were Slither and Thatch. Thatch's wand was made from cherry wood and Slither's came from African blackwood. Miss Bloodraven and Eric exchanged glances, but said nothing.

Casper, Ra and Mantha came next. Casper's was mahogany, Mantha's was abachi, and Ra's was red alder. The rest of the class followed shortly.

Miss Bloodcraven face-palmed. "I forgot! We're gonna need spell books!"

"Why don't you get some while we're here?" Casper asked. "I can help carry them back to school."

Miss Bloodcraven nodded. "Good idea. Mantha, Ra, why don't you help as well? The rest of you are free to explore, but stay together and be back here by five o'clock."

They walked to a nearby bookstore, ran by a witch named Jessica. "You're teaching them magic?" she asked, somewhat incredulously. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Miss Bloodcraven shrugged.

"Hey, isn't _Seraphino's brother _one of your students?"

She nodded.

"And _that boy. _Isn't one of your students related to him as well?"

She nodded.

"Who's 'that boy?'" Mantha asked.

"No one!" both women said quickly. "No one you should be concerned with," Miss Bloodcraven added quickly.


	7. Missing

**SilversLittleAngel: Yeah, that should be fun. Trouble... well, it's coming.**

**GhostVirtuvirus: Sort of...**

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><p>Jessica looked around. "By the way, where are the rest of your students? I don't see the vampire child."<p>

"They're out exploring. And his name is Thatch," Miss Bloodcraven sighed.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, with Masquerade and all."

"Aww come on, they don't even know we're here."

"Who's Masquerade?" Casper asked.

"A group of Lightblood supremacists," Jessica said simply.

"What's that?" Mantha asked.

"You see, the first witches were Light Witches," Miss Bloodcraven explained. "Angel-human hybrids, really. Then Light Witches had children with pixies- a very complicated affair- and the Green Witches were born. At the same time, demons started to have children with humans as well, creating the Dark Witches."

Jessica nodded. "Lightblood supremacists think Light Witches- and most Green Witches- are the most superior beings out there, and everyone else can go F*** themselves."

"Watch your language!"

"Sorry."

Miss Bloodcraven sighed. "But she's right. Lightblood supremacists view creatures of darkness as a blight on the world, and Masquerade's goal is to wipe them off the face of the earth. Which is where the rumors about witches killing off monsters comes from. But like I said, they don't know we're here."

"I wouldn't say that," Jessica said. "One of Eric's workers overheard you talking to him through magic mirror yesterday, and he posted it all over MeeSee."

"What's MeeSee?" Ra asked.

"The witch version of Facebook," Miss Bloodcraven explained. "Are you sure?"

Jessica handed her smartphone over to the teacher. "OH MY GOD, 6 MILLION VIEWS?!"

"Masquerade probably knows you're here. Considering the rumors about Seraphino..." Jessica trailed off.

Miss Bloodcraven cursed mildly under her breath. "Send the books to scare school, please," she asked. "Right now, we need to go find the others."

They stepped outside. The sun had come out, and Miss Bloodcraven opened her umbrella. "But, it's not raining," Ra pointed out.

"I know. Dark witches don't handle sunlight very well." She stuck her hand out of the protective shade. Her hand promptly burst into flames. "See?" She pulled back her hand and put out the flames.

The rest of the class was waiting for them when they arrived. "Roll call," Miss Bloodcraven announced. "Mosshead?"

"Here."

"Flyboy?"

"Here."

"Harpy?"

"Here."

"Thatch? Thatch?" No response. "Has anyone seen Thatch?"

"He was with us a minute ago," Slither said.

Miss Bloodcraven stiffened. Casper remembered her saying that a witch's eyes changed color when experiencing intense emotion. Right now they had gone from green to blood-red. A dark aura surrounded her. If they thought she was scary when mad before, right now she was positively terrifying. "I'm going to have the rest of you return to scare school," she said, trying to keep her voice calm. "I'll stay behind to look for Thatch."

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><p>She sighed, walking along the near-empty streets. It was almost sunset, and she still hadn't found anything. Those damn idiots were doing a pretty good job at hiding Thatch's scent.<p>

Then it hit her like a semi-truck. She was searching for him the wrong way. If she took into account Thatch's heritage and her own powers...

She grinned. She knew another way to find him.

She burst in through the window of the warehouse. (The window because she didn't want to take the time to mess with the six padlocks on the door.) _Why is it always a warehouse? _She thought bitterly.

The area she entered from was deserted. She figured they probably set up the place with who-knows-how-many spell alarms, so they probably already knew she was here. Still, she wanted to be careful.

When she finally found Thatch, the sight made her blood boil with rage. The kid had been beaten who-knows-how-many times, barely clinging to consciousness. He was so pale, paler than usual. He'd lost a lot of blood, Katrina was surprised he was still awake. He was duct-taped to a chair, but he was alone. His captors were probably out looking for her, Katrina realized.

She rushed over to the vampire. "Thatch!" she hissed.

He looked up. "Katrina?" he asked weakly. Inisde, she was happy he actually remembered the past they'd shared, but she was to worried to show it.

"I'm here, Thatch. It's gonna be all right, I promise. I need to make you go to sleep for a while, I need you to concern your energy," she said. _And I don't want you to see what I'm about to do._

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><p>Casper paced the classroom. Everyone was in Miss Bloodcraven's room- the headmasters, Franengymteacher, Nurse, all of the students. Casper and the others had told them about Masquerade, and everyone was worried that was who was responsible.<p>

"The portal closed an hour ago," Mantha worried. "How are they going to get back?"

As if to answer her question, the portal started to glow again. There was a massive flash of- darkness, blinding everyone. When they could see again, Miss Bloodcraven had appeared, carrying an unconscious Thatch.

Miss Bloodcraven looked exhausted and bloodsoaked. Whose blood? She had no idea. Hers? Maybe. Thatch's? Probably. Someone else's? Most likely. She managed a weak smile before passing out.


	8. Recovery

**SilversLittleAngel: Thank you. I wanted to put in some suspense.**

**No complaints about Thatch, please. I know he's OOC, but I also know what trauma can do to a person's personality.**

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><p>It was Monday. Thankfully, Thatch and Miss Bloodcraven had made a full recovery. But neither of them were willing to talk about what had happened. "Thatch is safe, and that's all that's important," Miss Bloodcraven had told the headmasters after she woke up.<p>

_"But what if they come after you?" Dash asked. "We could all be in terrible danger!"_

_Miss Bloodcraven snorted. "As if. There are only five people who know how to create a portal to the Underworld- me, the Clanhead, Valemore, and two other Dark Witches."_

_"Valemore can create a portal?!" Kibosh shouted (he'd come after he heard about what was going on.)_

_She nodded. "Well, he _can _use magic. Thankfully for us, he's in a maximum-security prison in the witch's world. We're just fine."_

Casper glanced at Thatch. He'd been very quiet, ever since he'd gotten back. He almost acted... nice. Miss Bloodcraven said it was due to the shock and trauma of the whole thing, and he'd be back to his old self in about a week or so, maybe a bit longer.

But Thatch's broken arm wasn't making life any easier for him. That was the only thing left that hadn't healed just yet, and his arm would be in a sling for a few weeks. At the moment, Thatch was carrying his tray with his good arm. But the tray slipped. Casper flew over and caught it before it hit the floor and handed it back to him. Thatch looked at him, a bit startled. "Th-thanks," he said quietly.

Everyone was waiting for Miss Bloodcraven's class the next day. Since Casper had talked her into buying a wand for herself, they could start the new schedule, with magic lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Miss Bloodcraven smiled. "Okay, class. As you know, today is our first magic lesson!"

The class cheered.

"Now, we're going to start with the most basic spell. A spell every magic student learns, no matter what branch of magic they're using- creating a werelight." She paused. "Before that, I need to go over the basics of magic."

"Now, magic is essentially the use of a special type of energy known as Manna, which is the reason there's life... anywhere. The first people to use magic were the heads of the Shadow Demon Clan- Rok'fih, and the head of the Gotzon angels- Vangelis. Their skills were then passed to their students who then passed the knowledge to the witches and humans. Magic only works in areas that contain enough residual Manna. Some places, like the Deedstown movie theater, don't have any residual Manna. So don't try to cast a spell over there."

Ra raised his hand. "How will we know if we can use magic somewhere or not?"

Miss Bloodcraven sighed. "WELL, right now it's mostly a bit of trial-and-error. The more you use magic, the more in-tune you are with the Manna around you. Now, for some actual spells." She grinned, flicking her wand. A small, glowing orb of dark blue light appeared above the teacher's outstretched hand. "Werelights are quite useful, as well as being an easy spell to cast. They can be as light- or dim- as you want, and they can be used to light the room." She smiled as the overhead lights flickered out. The werelight glowed even brighter, as she tossed it into the air. The orb floated above the class until the teacher clapped her hands, making the werelight disappear and the regular lights come back on.

"Creating a werelight is simple. As with any spell, you must first focus your magical energy into the wand. Then simply say, 'golau.'' She then pulled out a stack of leather-bound books. "These are your spell notebooks. They're enchanted. As soon as you write your name on the first page, it keeps track of the spells you've mastered and the one's you're working on. The actual textbooks we'll be using will be kept on my bookshelf. Now, I want everyone to come up and grab a notebook. Keep track of it, I'll be using them to keep track of your progress."

Once everyone was back in their seats with their books she said, "All right, I'm giving you kids the rest of class to work on the spell I just taught you. Come to me if you need help. Good luck!"

* * *

><p>Katrina let out a sigh as she watched the students , Thatch and Casper got the hang of using magic the fastest. Which could be either a good thing or a bad thing. It really depended. All the pieces were in place for this to end as badly as it did the first time. Then again, they weren't the people responsible for that major disaster.<p>

She closed her eyes, slipping into her memories.

_Fino grinned, staring at the golden orb in front of him. "I did it, Bella!"_

_"Don't use my true name!" she hissed. "If other people find out what it is-"_

_"I know, I know," he said. "But, it's still cool! I can use magic!"_

_She snorted. "Of course you can use magic. Did you ever doubt me?"_

_Beside them, their friend rolled his eyes. "What's so special about _him _using magic? It's not like he's the only one."_

"-craven! Miss Bloodcraven!"

She opened her eyes. Casper was hovering in front of her. "What is it, Casper?"

He smiled. "Look what we made for you!"

Created using maybe a hundred werelights (how they managed to create so many, she had no idea) were the words "MISS BLOODCRAVEN IS THE BEST!" written in the air above them.

She smiled. "Thank you. All of you. And for being so creative, extra points to whoever figured it out."

"It was Thatch's idea," Mantha said. "But Casper was the one who figured out how to do it."

She smiled. Of course those two were powerful enough, she already knew that. But as for them being able to work together, well, she had her doubts. Why did that damn Oracle have to tell her about that?! She would have been more than happy if everyone could just live normal (relatively), peaceful (also relatively) lives. But no, in order to save everyone, she might just have to drag them into this.

Still, their personalities seriously clashed. Thatch was -normally- a bit rude, and arrogant, and selfish while Casper was nice to everyone and self_less. _Then again, Thatch's personality did have the potential to revert back to the way he'd been when he was younger.

She sighed to herself. The students had already gone downstairs for dinner, and Edgar was chasing a rat he thought he saw. Did she really want to make Thatch change who he was? She _did _promise Fino she'd make sure Thatch grew up to be a good person. Even if she wanted to do it, though, she had no idea _how._


	9. Newcommers

**SilversLittleAngel: Thanks. The idea of how magic works is something I'd had for a while. Just needed a chance to use it. And, thanks for letting me borrow your OCs.**

**Disclaimer: Fatch and Lexi both belong to SilversLittleAngel. Sadly, I don't own them.**

* * *

><p>She growled, secretly glad her students weren't around. Why the hell was everything coming crashing down on her at once?! She... she couldn't take it. It was just too much. She turned to Edgar, who was currently licking himself. "I need to be alone for a while."<p>

The cat nodded, then resumed his tongue-bath. "I'll make sure no one goes after you."

The witch then grabbed her broom and took off out the window towards the Spooky Forest.

* * *

><p>Fatch and Lexi arrived after school ended for the day. Casper, Mantha, Ra, and Thatch were waiting for them.<p>

"Lexi! Thatch! You're back!" Casper shouted, hugging Lexi.

"Sorry we were a bit late coming back from summer break," Lexi apologized. "We went on vacation and had some problems getting back to scare school."

Fatch noticed Thatch. "What happened to your arm?"

"I broke it," Thatch said quietly.

"You broke it? How?" Fatch demanded.

"I, um, I got kidnapped."

"WHAT?!"

"It's okay!" Casper assured him. "Miss Bloodcraven took care of it."

"Who?" Lexi asked.

"Oh, right. You guys haven't met her yet. Miss Bloodcraven's our new teacher. She's a witch."

"Why don't we introduce you to her?" Mantha suggested. "She's probably cleaning up the classroom after the pixie incident."

"Pixie incident?" Fatch asked. "It sounds like we missed a lot."

"Yeah. Come on!"

The classroom was empty. Not even Edgar was around.

"I wonder where she is?" Casper wondered. Suddenly, they heard a high-pitched scream come from the Spooky Forest. Everyone took off in the direction of the sound.

* * *

><p>She rushed through the woods, trying to get as far away from that man as possible. Man, she couldn't remember... anything, so she had no idea who he was or why he was after her. Actually, she couldn't even remember who <em>she <em>was, but she wasn't going to worry about that right now. Right now, she just had to get to safety. But where in the world was that?_  
><em>

"I found you!" he shouted. "You're mine now, girl."

She tripped over a root, face-planting into the dirt. He was standing over her before she could even start to get up and had her pinned to a tree. He pulled out a knife, letting the blade play with her pale neck. "We're gonna have some fun," he hissed. His other hand held hers tightly as she tried to wriggle free. Instead of slicing her neck, the blade slashed her chest. Not deep enough to go past her ribs, but deep enough to make her scream.

He slapped her. "Quiet! We can't have anyone interrupting us." He let go of her hand, clamping his hand over her mouth instead. He sliced her arm, but her screams were muffled this time. "No memories means you can't fight back. You don't know how. Which means I get to enjoy our little reunion," he sneered.

"That doesn't look like a very happy reunion to me," a voice said.

She looked at the source of the noise. A vampire with red hair and white bangs had come into view, and he didn't look too happy. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but there was something very special about a vampire with red hair.

"She doesn't look too happy to see you," the vampire said. "Why don't you let her go?"

"No!" he snarled. "She's mine! Her power is all mine!"

Her captor was probably the only one there who fully understood what that meant. The vampire shrugged. "If you're not going to let her go, then I guess I'll have to make you."

She couldn't see what happened exactly. All she knew was a few seconds later, her captor was fleeing and a group of monsters ran into the area. A mummy, a zombie, a ghost, another vampire and a shadow demon.

"Fatch!" the ghost shouted. "What happened?"

"Who's that?" the zombie asked.

She stared at them. She was a vampire, maybe Thatch's age or a bit older. She had long pale lavender hair with bangs that just barely avoided covering her right eye. Both eyes were a deep gold. She was dressed in dark colors- black cropped T-shirt that was at least a _bit _revealing, near-black jeans, black finger-less gloves, black combat boots.

"What's your name?" her rescuer- Fatch, apparently- asked.

She shrugged. "I dunno."

"You don't know? What, you forgot your own name or something?"

She nodded. "I can't remember anything. Well, I remember a name. Serafino."

The ghost, other vampire, and mummy looked at each other in obvious shock.

"Why don't you come back to scare school with us?" the ghost suggested. "I'm Casper, and this is Thatch, Mantha, Ra, and Fatch."

She smiled. "Pleased to meet you."


	10. Miss Night

**GhostVirtuvirus: a little. **

**SilversLittleAngel: Hehee. I'm gonna have fun with her.**

**Sorry this chapter is a bit short, but it's important.**

**Disclaimer: I only own Edgar, Katrina, and the new vampire. Any other OCs used belong to SilversLittleAngel.**

* * *

><p>On the way back, Thatch was trying to figure out who this girl was. Why did she remember his older brother, of all things? He didn't recognize her at all, but she was young enough to be his daughter. But that wouldn't work out at all. He was with Katrina about the time she would have been born, and she was 100% vampire. Unless he was cheating on Katrina...<p>

He shook that thought out of his head. There's no _way _that could happen. Right?

Speaking of which, where was their teacher? They still hadn't seen her.

They tried to sneak into the school as quietly as possible. They'd been out so long, they should have been in bed a few minutes ago. Thankfully, the first person they ran into happened to be Dusk.

"Fatch!" He exclaimed. "You're back!"

"Hi, Dusk," Fatch said.

Dusk noticed someone standing behind everyone. "Who's that?"

The girl stepped forward. "Hi."

"I-impossible!" Dusk gasped. "Bella Night?!"

"Who?" everyone asked.

"Bella Night," Dusk said. "The only member of the Night family that _wasn't _found dead almost twenty years ago. She was the only girl in the family. But, she's too young to be Bella."

"Then why do you think I'm her?" the girl asked, one hand on her hip.

"Well, you have to be a member of the Night family. They're the only vampires with that hair color."

"Sort of like how we're the only vampires with red hair?" Fatch asked.

Dusk nodded. "Yeah. To be honest, the Night family's almost as old as ours. Really powerful vampires. They typically ended up helping us maintain order in the Underworld, especially since they never went to Earth."

"There _are _spells to make a person younger," Edgar said as he calmly strode into the room. "Old spells. Katrina knew a few, in addition to all the Kill Spells."

"What?" Casper asked.

"Well, she _was _the Dark Witch's best assassin during the civil war. At least, until she went insane."

"Uh..."

"Whatever," Edgar said. "She's most likely Miss Night. If you want to be sure, check her ankle. The girl was born with a rose-shaped birthmark on her left ankle."

She pulled off her boot and rolled up her pant leg, revealing a rose-shaped birthmark.

"So you _are _Bella," Dusk said.

"Hey, look!" Ra shouted, pointing out the window. "Someone's coming!"

Ra was right. A warlock on a broomstick was flying towards the scare school. Everyone ran outside to meet him.

"Is Katrina Bloodcraven available?" he asked. "I have urgent news for her."

"She's not here right now," Casper said. "But we can give her your message."

The warlock nodded. "I have word that Valemore has escaped from prison, and he'll most likely come after her."


	11. Siblings

**GhostVirtuvirus: Yeah, I thought so. I needed _something _for everyone to do while Katrina was distracted. And, yeah, it's gonna get messy.**

**SliversLittleAngel: Well, I'll be going into detail about that.**

**New character warning.**

**Disclaimer: I only own Katrina, Edgar, and Alison. And my story. All other OCs belong to SilversLittleAngel.**

* * *

><p>"That's not our only problem," Edgar said as he walked up to the group.<p>

The messenger's eyes widened. "Y-Your Majesty! I, I didn't know _you _were here."

"Of course we were," another voice said. "We go wherever our sister goes."

"What?" Everyone asked.

The cat looked up at them. "Why don't we go inside? It's more comfortable." He then looked at the messenger. "You can leave."

Everyone followed the cat into Miss Bloodcraven's room.

"Why did he call you 'Your Highness?'" Mantha asked.

"And where did the voice come from?" Ra asked.

"You mean me?" the voice said. "Try the locket around Edgar's neck. I've been stuck in here for almost eighteen years."

"I thought you didn't want to get noticed, Ali," Edgar said.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Umm..."

"That's Alison," Edgar explained. "She's Katrina's twin sister. Oh, and I'm there younger brother."

"How did that happen?" Casper asked.

"Well, remember the civil war I mentioned a little while ago? It happened during that. You see, we're all members of the Dark Witch's Clannhead familiy. The Clannhead is our king, I guess," Edgar explained.

"The war was close to being over, but a team of Light Witches entered our family estate. Katrina was stuck protecting our uncle, the Clannhead, leaving the two of us to fend for ourselves," Alison continued.

"That's when we were attacked. Instead of killing us, the warlock cursed us. Katrina found a way to undo the spell, but there's one problem- undoing the spell requires light magic. In other words, a Light Witch, an angel, et cetera."

"Umm... Edgar?" Alison asked.

"Yeah?"

"I lost contact with Katrina."

"What do you mean?" Fatch asked.

"Witch twins are psychiclly linked," Edgar explained. "The curse keeps Ali from using the full extent of this, but they can at least talk. The only way to fix the connection and be able to figure out where Katrina is would be to free Ali. But that much light magic... it would kill any of us if we tried to use the spell."

"I could do it," Fatch suggested. "I brought back Viviana using a spell like that."

Edgar was about to protest, but then Alison whispered "He;s a member of the Ramirez family. He has angelic powers. He'll be fine." Edgar nodded. "I'd suggest we get started, then. Katrina has a _lot _of enemies. Who knows what could be going on?"

A few minutes later, they'd searched Miss Bloodcraven's classroom for her notebook. Not a spell notebook like her students had, a regular leather-bound notebook Alison said she used for developing new spells. Fatch opened it. "Uh, where's the spell we're looking for?"

The notebook was filled with random sketches and calculations, words and notes thrown all over the pages. A few pages were in order- her finished spells.

"Check about halfway through," Edgar said.

"It should stand out," Alison added.

They were right. About halfway through the notebook was a spell, circled, highlighted, written in big block letters. Below it was a diagram. He was supposed to draw it place the locket in the center and his hands on the outside.

"Sa clave. Destrave a alma. Libere o espírito atrapado dentro."

The diagram exploded in light. Fatch screamed as all that purity and goodness coursed through his body into the spell. Edgar raced towards him. He wasn't certain it was a good idea, and he wanted to stop the spell before anyone got hurt. Instead, he got pulled into the spell as well.

The light faded. Alison and Edgar were free, and they- along with Fatch- were passed out on the floor.

Bella- who had been watching the entire thing with Casper, Thatch, Ra, and Mantha- ran over to the three. "Let's get them to bed," she suggested. "We'll deal with everything when they wake up."

Everyone decided to go to bed and deal with the issue in the morning, especially since it was the weekend and none of them had school. Mantha agreed to help Bella find a place in the girls' dorm.

"Mantha?" the teen asked while they were getting ready for bed.

"Yeah?"

"Is there something special about Fatch? I get the feeling he's important somehow."

Strange. Bella couldn't remember anything, but she- partly- recognized the importance of the Ramirez family. "He's the future ruler of the Underworld."

"Oh. No wonder I figured he was my master."

"What do you mean?"

She looked at Mantha, slightly confused. "Huh?"


	12. Plans

**GhostVirtuvirus: Actually, there are benefits to being a part of the Night family. I'll explain in this chapter, hopefully.**

**SilversLittleAngel: Thank you. I'm hoping to answer your questions about the Night family, so just keep reading!**

**I think this is my longest chapter yet.**

* * *

><p>"Are you coming down to breakfast?" Mantha asked the next morning. Bella was laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling.<p>

"Yeah. Go ahead, I'll be down in a few minutes."

Everyone was sitting together, as usual. "Hey, Fatch?" Mantha asked. "Bella said something last night about you being her master."

"What?" he asked.

"Of course," a voice said from behind them. "The Night family have always been servants of the Ramirez family."

They turned around. Holding a tray was a warlock with messy black hair that partly covered his red eyes. He looked like he was maybe twelve years old.

"Edgar?" Casper asked.

He smiled faintly. "Hi, everyone." He slid in next to Casper.

"What do you mean?" Ra asked.

"Well, it started a few thousand years ago. The first member of Bella's family- Jason Night, was a vampire born with a really weird power. He could command any monster to do anything, and they couldn't disobey him no matter what. A lot of people thought he'd try and overthrow the Ramirez family, but he didn't," Edgar explained. "Instead, he cast a spell that made him and his descendants unable to control the Ramirez family, and forced them to obey the orders of the Ramirezes. As a side-effect, all members of the Night family gained that weird hair color."

"Oh."

Edgar shook his head. "But I don't get how _she _knew that. Her family was murdered when she was six years old. Pretty violently, from what I heard."

"I have no idea either," Bella said as she joined the others. "But it makes sense. How's Alison?"

"Sleeping. She's planning to take over Kat's class until we find her, so you'll see her later."

"I have a question," Thatch said. "Weren't you cursed eighteen years ago? So, shouldn't you be older?"

Edgar shrugged. "This is how old I was when I was cursed. I guess my true form just never aged."

All of the students were excited to get to know the two new students- Edgar and Bella, which they learned was actually short for Belladonna. Edgar especially after they found out he was Miss Bloodcraven's little brother.

"Did you live in NeoAvalon?" Slither asked during gym. NeoAvalon was really the only city in the witch world they actually knew about.

"Nah. I lived in Turin."

"Where's that?" Dummygirl asked.

"It's in the Seelaina Desert."

"Why were you living in the _desert?" _Mantha asked.

"I dunno. Dark witches always lived there."

"Quit standing around!" Frankengymteacher shouted at them.

Since it was Thursday, Alison was responsible for the next magic class.

"Seeing as you kids obviously mastered the werelight spell," Alison said after introducing herself, "we'll be moving on to the core part of all magic- elemental spells."

Edgar sighed, then pulled out his notebook and started writing.

"Elemental spells are a part of every advanced spell," Alison continued. "There are eight types of elemental magic: fire, wind, crystal-earth, water, ice, electricity, plant, and shadow. As you might expect, shadow spells form the basis of dark magic. However, the other elements also play a significant role as well."

Casper leaned over. "Shouldn't you be paying attention?" he whispered.

"I already know this stuff," Edgar hissed back. "I can-"

"Casper, Edgar, is there something you'd like to share with the class?" Alison asked, her voice calm but absolutely terrifying.

"No, ma'am," both boys said in unison.

"Casper, would you please name all eight elementals?"

"Fire, wind, earth, water... um, plant, electricity, ice, and shadow?"

"Correct. Edgar, do you think that because you already _know _all of this that you have the right to ignore my lesson?"_  
><em>

"Uh, yeah."

"Well, then. Since you're obviously so intelligent, why don't you write on the board both forms each element takes on in spell-casting and their uses."

"But I'm not the teacher!" Edgar protested.

"Seeing as you got straight A's in magic at the New Moon Academy, I'm sure you'll do _fine."_

* * *

><p>The next day was a free day in class, but Alison decided to start the lesson by answering any questions the students might have.<p>

Dummygirl raised her hand. "What's the New Moon Academy? Is that, like, a scare school for witches?"

Alison nodded. "Yes. There are fifteen Acedmies, nine for Green Witches, five for Light Witches, and one for Dark Witches- the New Moon Academy. Thankfully, all of them are allowed to participate in the annual Academy Games in NeoAvalon."

Slither raised his hand. "Where's our _real _teacher? Do you know when she's coming back?"

Alison's face fell. "I hate to say it, but she's been kidnapped by Masquerade."

The entire class fell into chaos.

"EVERYONE QUIET!" Fatch shouted.

"Thank you," Alison said. "Now, I don't know much, but I _do _know that she's being kept in NeoAvalon. I also know that her power, her soul is being kept in a crystal pendant which is to be the prize for the winning team of the Academy Games, which is almost always a Light Witch Academy."

"Can't you call the police or something?" Harpy asked.

"Not really. Psychic messages don't count as evidence."

"We have to do _something," _Mantha said. "She's our teacher."

"I have an idea," Thatch said. "What if we competed in the Academy Games? If we won, we could get our teacher back."

"Are monsters allowed to participate?" Casper asked.

"Any school that teaches magic is allowed," Edgar said. "One time, a magician school competed."

"Then let's do it!" A couple of the kids shouted.

"It might work," Fatch said.

"Well, first we'll need permission from the headmasters. And Kibosh."

A few minutes later, Casper, Mantha, Ra, Fatch, Bella, Edgar, and Alison were in the headmasters room.

"The wining school gets almost a million dollars," Alison pointed out. Dollar signs appeared in Alder and Dash's eyes.

"And it would be a good way to prove to the witches that monsters are just as good as witches," Bella said.

"You can do it," Kibosh said.

"I agree," Dash said. "It sounds like an excellent idea to us."


	13. Useless

**SilversLittleAngel: (blushing) Thank you. You love to compliment me.**

**Here comes an insight into what kind of person Edgar is.**

* * *

><p>"Where are you going this weekend?" Casper asked Edgar after dinner. Edgar had been really quiet, which was unusual. They'd really only spent much time with him during the past two days, but he'd always been confident and calm. Right now he seemed a bit shaken. Then again, he'd recently found out about what happened to his sister.<p>

He shrugged. "I guess I'll be staying at Scare School. Our house burned down a few years ago, and Kat was always travelling all over the place anyways. Alison's going to NeoAvalon to register our school for the Academy Games, and I can't come."

"So you'll be alone all weekend?"

He shrugged. "Yeah."

"Why don't you stay with me and my uncles?" Casper suggested. "It's no fun to spend the weekend all by yourself."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked.

"Of course. Come on," Casper said. He then grabbed the warlock's hand and dragged him over to the dimensional tube. Within minutes they were standing in the front hallway of Casper's house.

It was sunset. "Casper!" Stretch called, hugging his nephew. "Good to see you again!"

"Who's your friend?" Fatso asked.

"Everyone, this is Edgar. He's a warlock. Is it okay if he spends the weekend with us?"

"Sure."

"Great! Come on, I'll show you my room," Casper said, once again dragging Edgar behind him.

"It'll be fun to have a sleepover, especially since you've been a cat for so long," Casper said when they were alone.

"Yeah," Edgar said quietly.

"Are you okay? I mean, after finding out what happened to Katrina and all-"

"I'm fine!" Edgar said harshly.

"Are you sure?"

Edgar didn't say anything. He silently pulled out his sketchpad and started drawing furiously.

Casper floated over him. Edgar was drawing a picture of Katrina. She was sitting under a tree, reading a book.

"You're really good," Casper commented. "Can I see what else you've drawn?"

"Whatever," Edgar said, handing it to him.

It was obvious that Edgar was close to Katrina (or just kind of creepy). Mixed between drawings of the desert landscape he grew up in were countless pictures of his older sister. A few had her with a young man about her age.

"Who's that?" Casper asked.

"William," Edgar said. "Kat's friend when they were in the military together."

"You miss her, don't you."

He sighed, looking out the window. "Mom died after I was born. Dad was busy with Parliament, and Alison was always with my uncle learning to one day become the next Clanhead. Anyways, Alison never really liked me that much. No one payed attention to me except Kat. Kat was the only one who was there for me all the time. After I was cursed, she always kept me with her. Now she's gone. She's been kidnapped, maybe tortured, and I might not ever see her again."

Casper noticed tears forming in his eyes. Edgar may be almost thirty, but he was still physically- and mentally- a kid. He was probably scared. Even though he had Alison, he still felt terribly alone.

Casper put his hand on Edgar's shoulder. "It's gonna be okay. We'll find her."

That was Edgar's breaking point. He burst into tears. "What if we don't? What if we lose the competition, and the Light Witches use her for something bad? What if they find out we're looking for her, and they kill her?!"

Casper didn't know what to say. Edgar knew Masquerade better than he did, but his fears were probably justified. To Casper, losing Miss Bloodcraven would just be losing a really cool teacher, but to Edgar it would be losing the one person that truly cared about him.

* * *

><p>That night, Edgar had a nightmare.<p>

_He was in the Hall of Mirrors. Why he was there, he had no idea, but he was alone._

_Suddenly, he heard giggles. "Who's there?"_

_The giggles continued, escalating in pitch. "Kat? Is that you?"_

_That's when he saw her in one of the mirrors. She was behind him, running from something. She was wearing a red party dress, and the hem was ripped._

_"Kat!" He started to follow her out of the Hall of Mirrors, through a labyrinth of hallways, and outside._

_Kat was fighting, facing Valemore, the two-headed monster wolf with only a knife. She was holding her own, but she was losing ground. Valemore ripped out a chunk of her leg. She screamed, backing up towards a cliff._

_Masked figures replaced Valemore. The attacked her from all sides, forcing her closer and closer to the cliff's edge._

_"Kat!" he screamed, trying to run to her._

_The figures vanished as Katrina tumbled off the edge of the cliff. _

_"Kat! NO!"_

_"What did you expect?" Alison's voice whispered in his ear. "You're useless, as always."_

_"You can't even protect yourself," his dad said. "What a shame."_

_"Always hiding behind Katrina, getting her to deal with the bullies," his uncle said, shaking his head. "Pitiful."_

_"Pitiful... useless... helpless... hopeless..."_

_"No!" Edgar shouted, covering his ears. "I'm not!"_

_The chanting continued, grating on his ears. "Pitiful, useless, helpless, hopeless. Pitiful, useless, helpless, hopeless."  
><em>

_"Stop it!" he begged. "Make it stop!"_

"-gar! Edgar, wake up!"

He opened his eyes. Casper was shaking him.

"What?"

"It's morning," Casper said. "Were you having a nightmare? You were crying in your sleep."

"Yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really." He didn't need to talk to a shrink to figure out what his dream was telling him- he was afraid of losing Kat, he felt like he couldn't do anything. The only boy in the family, and his dad always viewed him as a failure. Why? Because he didn't want to fight. Because he wasn't that good at magic, he was weak, he was pitifully skinny. Kids always picked on him at school, and Alison never stopped taunting him. His dad tried to pretend he didn't even exist, and his uncle mainly forgot about him.

Kat wasn't like that. Defender of the weak, hero of the Battle of Avalon. A magical genius who'd developed several spells of her own. Strong, pretty, brave, the girl every boy in school had a crush on. The person everyone loved.

He wasn't going to say it, but he knew what it meant to have only your soul trapped inside of something. It meant you were dead. It meant that, even if they freed Kat, he would never truely get her back. She'd probably move on, go to the afterlife, leave him behind. Leave him all by himself.

He followed Casper down to breakfast, mentally beating himself up. Why? Why couldn't he have been freed sooner? Why hadn't he followed Kat, tried to protect her? Why? Because it was like everyone said. He was useless, hopeless, helpless. Pitiful, a complete and total failure, unworthy of being able to call Kat his sister.


	14. Memorada

**Thanks for reviewing! This is the first time I've gotten three reviews for a chapter in a while.**

**SilversLittleAngel: It _is_ terrible feeling like that. That was my entire seventh grade year. And well, no one ever compliments me as much as you, so it's something unusual for me.**

**Matteso585: Yeah. Have you been reading this the entire time? I never hear from you.**

**GhostVirtuvirus: Yeah. It gets better for him in this chapter.**

**Song for this: Your Guardian Angel (Alliance Edition) by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I wrote a good chunk of the chapter to this**

**This is officially the longest chapter in the fanfic.**

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><p>After breakfast, Edgar made a beeline for the library. (AN: they have a library, right? I'm assuming there is one) He knew Casper liked to spend his weekend with his human friends <em>outside, <em>and Edgar didn't want to be pulled into it. It wasn't that he was shy- well, that was part of it- it was that they were going to be outside in the sun. He'd never been in the sun. In Seeliana everything took place at night, it was easier that way. He'd also never ventured into the human world, at least not while he wasn't a cat.

Thatch knocked on the door to Casper's house. He and Edgar had been good friends when they were younger, but they hadn't had a decent conversation since before Fino died. Casper answered the door. "Thatch? What are you doing here?"

"I was thinking we could introduce Edgar to everyone," Thatch said. "Everyone" being Richard, Jimmy, and Zeke.

"That's a great idea! He's a bit down about Miss Bloodcraven, so maybe we can all cheer him up. He's in the library. I'll go get him."

"I'll come with you," Thatch offered.

The two walked into the library. Edgar was curled up in a corner reading a volume of _Grimm's Fairytales. _"Edgar, we want you to come outside and meet some of our friends," Casper said.

"No way. You already know what sunlight does to witches," Edgar said.

"You can bring an umbrella like your sister does," Casper suggested.

"No way."

Thatch sighed. "How are we gonna get him outside?"

"I have an idea." Casper flew up to the attic, rummaging around until he got what he was looking for. He smiled, flying back down and put a wide-brimmed hat on Edgar's head. It was black, and big enough to shield all of his face from the sun.

Edgar sighed. His one reason for not coming was now void. "All right. Just let me get dressed." He came down a few minutes later wearing a dark red shirt with a black jacket, dark wash jeans, and black sneakers. The hat was placed firmly on his head, and he grabbed a pair of gloves to protect his hands. "Ready."

The others were waiting for them in the park. "Everyone, this is Edgar," Casper introduced. "Edgar, this is Richard, Jimmy and Zeke."

"Hey," Edgar said quietly. He didn't know what to say. This was the first time he'd seen humans up close. Katrina sometimes dealt with them, but he was never around for that.

"So... you're a warlock?" Jimmy asked. He nodded.

"He's Miss Bloodcraven's little brother," Casper explained.

* * *

><p>She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pain of a thousand thorns digging into her skin. She was dead, so she shouldn't feel anything. Then again, Kaige was involved and she fed off pain and suffering. As if on cue, the red-headed demon walked into the darkness of her prison. Her long cherry-red hair flowed down her back, contrasting with her sharply curved black horns and wings. She was carrying her favorite weapon, a blood-soaked sword, dragging it behind her.<p>

"Are you enjoying this?" Katrina growled.

"Oooh, _immensely_," Kaige purred. "After being your prisoner for so long, it's refreshing to see that the tables are turned."

"You killed me already," Katrina said. "What more do you need? Just let me fade into the Abyss."

"Now why would I do that? Edgar knows the ritual. If he were to perform it... right now it would do more than just ensure you get an afterlife. It would bring you back to life. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Katrina nodded. "Considering the way I died, it makes sense. So what, are you keeping me here until the clock runs out?"

"In a sense." Kaige grinned. "But now I can use your power. As you know, setting your sister free also sets _me _free. I have a certain vampire prince to thank for that." She shrugged. "His mistake." She picked up the massive sword and shoved it into Katrina's torso, relishing the witch's screams. "This is for my own pleasure. Since you're already dead, I can do this as much as I want."

* * *

><p>Edgar looked around. They'd already been to the movies and now they were about to get lunch.<p>

"Umm, what's pizza?" he asked. It was something Jimmy had suggested.

"It's food," Zeke said. "Really, really good food."

"You've never had pizza?" Casper asked.

Edgar shook his head. "I think Kat mentioned it once, but I've never tried it. They don't have it in Seeliana. We're kind of behind the times."

"How come?" Richard asked.

"The other witches try to keep us Dark Witches from getting any power. We're 'lesser beings,' so we barely even have electricity."

"That's rough," Jimmy said. "Well, how about we get pizza?"

* * *

><p>He rolled over onto his back, staring at the ceiling. Today was a lot of fun, surprisingly. He'd actually laughed, like when Richard got pizza sauce on his face and tried to wipe it off but ended up spreading it around more, or when Zeke startled Jimmy and he spewed soda.<p>

But that only made him feel guilty. Katrina was dead, probably died on Wednesday, and he still hadn't done anything about it. He hadn't buried her- he didn't know where the body was- still hadn't performed a Memorada for her.

He should do it. Perform Kat's Memorada, that is. She deserved it. He got up, moving quietly so he wouldn't wake Casper or his uncles, and crept outside.

Casper sat up after Edgar left. He wasn't asleep, partly because he and the others decided to keep an eye on Edgar. They were worried about him, he'd be happy for a bit then get really sad and quiet. Casper pulled out his hidden walkie-talkie and hissed, "He left the house."

_"We're on our way," _Jimmy radioed back.

Edgar remembered when Kat taught him about the Memorada. He was six years old. The civil war was well underway, and Kat was home on military leave.

_She'd only been home a few hours, and she still hadn't changed out of her uniform. Edgar was looking for her so he could show her that he'd mastered the werelight spell finally. He found her in the rose maze (witches love mazes and puzzles)._

_She was setting something up. He saw candles, incense, chalk, a bowl, a pitcher of healing water. She was in the middle of drawing something on the ground with the chalk when he walked in._

_"What's that for?" he asked._

_She looked up. "This? I'm doing a Memorada for mom."_

_"What's a Memorada?"_

_She kept drawing. "You know how when you die, you're supposed to go to heaven, hell, or purgatory? Well, Dark Witches don't get that, thanks to the Light Witches. We spend ten years in the Abyss, a realm of total nothingness, then our souls dissolve and join the world's energy flow. The only chance we have at an afterlife is if our loved ones perform a Memorada after we die. You're supposed to do it once a year for the first ten years after someone dies, but most people only do it for the first year."_

He found a clear spot on the pavement in the park and pulled out everything he'd need- the chalk, the bowl, healing water, candles and incense.

Casper, Thatch, Fatch, Richard, Jimmy and Zeke were watching Edgar from the bushes. "What's he doing?" Jimmy asked.

"I dunno," Casper said. "Maybe he's casting some kind of spell?"

The diagram on the ground complete, Edgar started to set up the rest, placing the bowl in the center and filling it with healing water. He then placed ten candles in a circle around the bowl and lit them, and put four lit sticks of incense in the water. He closed his eyes, whispering, "As estrelas que nos guían, a lúa que ilumina o noso camiño, amosar-lle o camiño. Guía-la para a luz ao final do túnel, axuda-la a atopar a paz. Dános a todos o consolo que buscamos."

There was a flash of light, blinding everyone in the area. When they could see again, Kat was standing in front of Edgar.


	15. Breathe Again

**Thanks for reading! To be honest, I'm surprised I actually made it this far. Normally I get distracted around chapter 8, sometimes as early as chapter 2. So thanks for supporting me, everyone!**

**GhostVirtuvirus: About that...**

**SilversLittleAngel: They told Edgar that Zeke was an alien, but he didn't take off his disguise. And she's there, but she's temporarily alive, that being explained shortly.**

* * *

><p>"K-Kat?" Edgar whispered. "Is that... really you?"<p>

She smiled sadly. "Yeah."

He hugged her tightly, breathing in her familiar scent as he broke down. "I thought you were dead!" he sobbed. "Don't scare me like that!"

Katrina really hated this. To be able to see Edgar again, to be with him only to lose him, it was torture. "I _am _dead."

"But, you're right here."

"The Memorada brought me back. But I don't have much time."

He squeezed her tighter. "Don't leave me!" he begged.

She let him go, kneeling down to look him in the eye. "I wish I could stay, but I can't. The only way to bring me back is to free my soul, then perform the Memorada before time runs out."

"H-how long?"

"Eight months. Edgar, I have to ask you a question- did you free Alison?"

"Yeah. Why?"

She groaned. "So Kaige wasn't bluffing. We're in trouble."

"Who's Kaige?" Edgar asked.

"An old enemy of mine. A powerful demon." She flickered. "Crap. We're running out of time. Edgar, you have to be careful. You have to stop Kaige before-"

Kat vanished completely in a gust of wind that blew out the candles. Edgar fell to his knees, sobbing. Everyone came out of hiding to comfort the boy.

"It's gonna be okay," Thatch said. "She said there was a way to bring her back, right?"

Edgar nodded, to upset to say anything.

"Who's Kaige?" Fatch wondered. "And why does freeing Alison spell trouble?"

"I don't know," Casper admitted. "Why don't we talk to her on Monday?"

* * *

><p>The rest of the weekend passed quickly. Edgar was in complete shock over the whole incident. He just shut down, wouldn't talk, wouldn't respond to anything. Casper had a hard time explaining to his uncles what was wrong with Edgar.<p>

Now it was Monday morning, time to go back to scare school. Thatch, Fatch and Casper had agreed to arrive before class started for the day so they could talk to Alison.

They knocked on the door to her classroom. "Come in," she called.

They entered the room. She looked at them and smiled. "How was your weekend?" She noticed the unusually blank look on Edgar's face. "Is something wrong?"

They told her what happened that weekend. She sighed. "Kaige crossed my mind when you freed me, but I didn't think she'd escape."

"Who _is _Kaige, exactly?" Casper asked.

"An ancient and powerful demon, the sister of Septimus. She feeds off the pain and sorrow of others, and loves mayhem and destruction. Every major bad event in history was influenced by her in some way or another. Twenty-five years ago, Kat found out she was behind the civil war in the witch world. She hoped that by sealing her away in a locket, she could prevent Kaige from doing any more harm. Ironically, that was the same locket I was trapped in. It looks like, by freeing me you also freed her."

"What do you think Miss Bloodcraven wants us to stop?" Fatch asked.

"I have no idea. All we can do is get ready for the Academy Games and try to win so that we can free my sister."

* * *

><p>They decided to save Fridays for preparing for the Games. There were 6 competitions in the Games- the Battle Royale, Hedge Maze, School Spirit, Nuuball, Ward Creation and Creature Summoning.<p>

"I just hope you kids can master enough magic to pull this off," Alison sighed.

"I'm sure we can do it," Casper said. "What exactly goes on in each of the competitions?"

"Well, the Battle Royal is a five-heat free-for-all where teams from two schools fight each other until one of them gives up or can no longer fight. The Hedge Maze is navigating a massive maze filled with shadow wolves and sleeping roses. School Spirit is basically a cheer-leading competition. Nuuball is like Slugby, only it's played in the air. Ward Creation and Creature Summoning, the name is self-explanatory."

"Then it's simple," Casper said. "We pick the best people for each task, and help them prepare for it."

"Of course. The only problem is that advanced magic is almost a requirement for all of them. Although Edgar could probably do the Ward Creation competition, it's one of the few types of magic he's good at. I guess we should pick our best fighters for the Battle Royale and train them in battle magic and basic healing. We're gonna need smart, creative people for the Hedge Maze. People good at Slugby will probably be good at Nuuball, especially those in this class that can already fly. Creature Summoning... well, I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

"I wonder if we can get Zeke and Richard involved," Casper wondered. "Zeke's really good at fighting, he used to be in the military. And Richard and Jimmy are smart and clever."

"Maybe," Alison said. "See if you can bring them to class next Friday."

* * *

><p>"Hello, brother."<p>

Septimus's eyes widened when he heard that voice. To be honest, he looked a bit frightened. Good thing no one was around to see it.

He turned around slowly. "K-Kaige! Good to see you! It looks like you managed to escape!"

Her eyes narrowed. "Indeed. No thanks to you. I see that you managed to undo that angel's curse. Did you figure it out on your own or did someone help you?"

"What are you doing here?" he asked, ignoring the insult.

"Is there anything wrong with saying hello to my brother?" she asked. "But if you must know, I'm here to tell you to stay out of my way. I have big plans to set in motion, and I can't have you messing them up."

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><p><strong>Okay, I'll admit. I need some help figuring out who should participate in what competitions. I have an idea about a few of them, but not all. Hedge Maze and Battle Royal need at least four team members, and it's a bit obvious who's going to be in the School Spirit competition. All the others only need one member.<strong>

**Thanks!**


	16. New Moon

**Thank you for your suggestions! **

**SilversLittleAngel: I'm glad you thought it was cool.**

**GhostVirtuvirus: I know, right?**

**Major kudos to SilversLittleAngel. You helped a bunch! Now all I really need is a few more people for the Nuuball team.**

**Oddly enough, this was was written to "Castle in the Sky" by DJ Satomi**

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><p>Katrina closed her eyes, glad Kaige was finally taking a break from the near-endless torture. Time was running out, it had already been a month since she'd died. Bella would likely start to remember what happened. Still, Katrina was the only one who knew the full extent of Kaige's plans. The kids were in danger.<p>

But how to warn them? She couldn't escape this prison world, she knew that.

What if she used _that spell... _it might work. Violet wouldn't consciously remember what Katrina told her, but at the very least she'd be able to slow Kaige's plans, at least until Katrina could find a more permanent solution. She sighed, summoning shadows to break her free of her thorny cage, glad that she was one of the few Dark Witches in possession of shadow powers. She honestly hoped Edgar had figured out how to control his, there was a new moon coming up.

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><p>It had been one month since Katrina had died. Edgar had started to open up more, but everyone was still keeping an eye on him, especially when Alison told them that Edgar and Katrina had a tendency to feel like they were the ones responsible when something bad happened to the people they cared about, even if it wasn't their fault.<p>

The entire school was taking part in getting ready for the Academy Games, even though the competition wasn't until the end of March- the week of the vernal equinox. All the same, Frankengymteacher was helping train for the Battle Royale, Hedge Maze, and Nuuball games, which helped Alison select the best students for each competition. Zeke, Richard, and Jimmy were spending more and more time at scare school. They had to learn a bit of magic to qualify as participants, but they liked that. Humans have no problem learning magic, and it seems that Novians can use magic as well.

In fact, they'd spent so much time getting ready for the Games they'd only done one bedroom scare in the past month. Which had gone pretty well. Everyone learned just how terrifying Edgar could be. Someone accidentally ticked him off beforehand and well... he scared the entire house. They'd also learned that giving him Red Bull was... dangerous, and that he was hilariously easy to startle when reading.

Now it was the week of Halloween. They were supposed to scare three fleshies before midnight in order to pass. It was a new moon and a Friday. After they completed the exercise, they were free for the weekend.

Edgar finished first. Someone had made him mad and all he had to do was glare at a few kids to send them running away, screaming bloody murder. He was happy, the full moon was seriously screwing with him. He kept wanting to attack someone. At least Kat placed that seal to keep him from going completely berserk. Alison was out of town- she was helping her uncle deal with some raids in Seelaina- so he was spending the weekend with Casper and his uncles. He'd been doing that a lot.

All the same, he still had issues on full moons. He needed to get some place quiet, relax, try and calm down the powers seeking to escape and wreck havoc using his body as a medium.

"Having problems?" He turned around. He was facing a demon woman, red hair flowing down her back the same color as her dress, with black wings and curved black horns. She smiled evilly, stepping closer. "Let me help."

Thatch was finally done, and he was looking for his friends. "Edgar? Where are you?"

"What are you doing to me?" That was Edgar's voice. Thatch saw him in an alley behind a demon woman.

"You're having problems controlling your powers. I'm going to let them control _you." _

There was a cracking sound and an explosion. When the dust cleared, the woman was gone and Edgar was perched on top of a pile of rubble. His eyes were glowing, and Thatch could see symbols similar to when Fatch was using his demon powers.

He grinned devillishly. "Nice to be free again. Time to have some fun."

* * *

><p>Bella and Fatch joined up with Casper. "Hey, has anyone seen Thatch?" Casper asked.<p>

They both shook their heads.

A girl came running up to them. "Does anyone of you happen to know a grey-skinned vampire or maybe a Dark Warlock with red eyes?" she said, panting.

"That's Thatch and Edgar!" Fatch gasped. "Is something wrong?"

"If you mean the Xerador's gone berserk because of the full moon and the vampire's currently in the hospital, then yes, something is wrong. Do any of you know who put the original seal on the warlock? I kind of need the spell they used on him."

"What?" The only part they understood was that someone went nuts, Thatch is hurt, and the girl needed a spell. "Can you explain what's going on?" Bella asked.

"Don't you know what a Xerador is?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Not really, no," Fatch admitted. "What is it?"

She sighed. "That'll take more time than we have. I've got some shadows to restrain the Xerador, but they won't be able to hold him much longer."

"You can control shadows?" Casper asked. "Are you a shadow demon?"

She laughed. "Of course not. I also happen to be a Xerador. Fine, I'll give you the basics. Xeradors are, well, no one really knows what they are exactly. Most people group them into the Dark Witch category. We typically end up working for them. We can- yeah- control shadows, but there's also a part of us that's pure evil. Unless said part is sealed away, it goes nuts every new moon and tries to kill everyone it meets. You're lucky I walked in when I did, that vampire probably wouldn't have made it much longer."

"What do we do?" Casper asked. From the sounds of it, Edgar was the Xerador.

"First of all, I need the spell they used to seal his evil the first time. Whoever did it probably recorded it somewhere. Secondly, we need to get the vampire kid to the hospital. Lastly, we need someone to deal with the Xerador if he breaks free."

"Miss Bloodcraven's notebook probably has the spell," Casper said.

Fatch nodded. It made sense, she _was _his sister. "Bella, go find Mantha and take this girl to scare school. They need to look in Miss Bloodcraven's notebook."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Bloodcraven? Might you be referring to one of the twins, Alison and Katrina?"

"Yeah. Katrina," Fatch said. "Why?"

"Might said Xerador be related to these twins?"

They nodded. The girl groaned. "We're screwed." Suddenly, she shuddered, eyes growing wide. "We're really in trouble. He just broke free."

She took off a breakneck speed, the others following as best as they could. They found her standing in a pile of rubble as a dark mist shot into Edgar. He passed out, and a couple shadows caught him and carried him over to the girl. She knelt next to him. "Let's see if I'm right about you," she muttered. She then said- well, no one really knows what exactly she said, but it sounded like- "Eme mostros camina. Revelen o quo as sombrena tenlan escondido." That wasn't even the magic language, which they had been learning.

Edgar's appearance changed. His hair went from black to mostly bood-red with small black streaks. Blood-red animal ears and a tail also appeared. "So it _is_ you."

"What did you do to him?!" Casper demanded.

She looked up. "I bought us some time by knocking him out... oh, you mean _that. _I wanted to be sure this was _really _Edgar Nightblood. I mean, he could have been someone else."

"But he's Edgar Bloodcraven," Bella pointed out.

"Bloodcraven is his father's name. His father happened to be a Dark Witch, but his mother was Amethyst Nightblood, a Xerador. Therefore, his real name is Edgar Nightblood. Same goes for his sister, Katrina."

"What about Alison?" Casper asked.

"She's a regular Dark Witch."

"But they're identical twins," Fatch said, as confused as everyone else.

"Identical twins?" The girl burst into laughter. "That's ridiculous! Katrina dyed her hair and used colored contacts so they'd _look _identical!"

"Who are you, exactly?" Fatch growled. The girl's condescending attitude was driving him to the limit of his patience.

"Violet Shadowspell. Now, it would be a really good idea if I got a look at that spell."

"Right," Casper said. "We'll take you to Miss Bloodcraven's classroom. Should one of us stay with Edgar?"

"No. He should be out for a few hours," Violet said.

"Let's go," Bella said.


	17. Kaige

**Thank you, everyone! Sorry the chapter is a bit short.**

**Written to: "Rhythm of the Night" by Loona**

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><p>Casper and the others led her to the Scare school. Finding the notebook took about five minutes, and it took even less for Violet to locate the spell they needed. "Hmm, I almost expected her to use something like this. She and her brother are the two most powerful Xeradors there are."<p>

"Do you know them?" Casper asked.

"Yeah. Kat took me in after my village was burned down. Most people don't like Xeradors, we don't exactly look like everyone else. To the Dark Witches, we're their servants. I guess it was pretty shocking when Kat's mom married the Clanhead." Violet looked like she was reliving something sad. "Where is Kat, anyways?"

"She's dead," Fatch said.

Violet was absolutely shocked, terrified and upset, but she tried to hide it. "Oh."

They ran into Richard, Jimmy, Zeke, Mantha and Ra on their way back to Deedstown. "What's going on? Who's that?" Ra asked.

"Something's wrong with Edgar," Casper explained. "This is Violet, she's gonna help."

"We'll come with you guys," Mantha said.

The seal was placed without a problem. The problem came about the time Edgar was waking up.

Edgar groaned, slowly opening his eyes. "Wha's going on?" he asked groggily. "Vi? What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask the exact same thing," a voice said. "Shouldn't you be dead?"

They looked up. Flying above them was a red-haired demon. "You!" Edgar shouted. "You're the one that broke the seal!"

She grinned. "Of course I did. Honestly, I was hoping you'd actually kill a few people, especially that vampire. I was getting bored of messing with his head. After my brother killed his parents... he just wasn't as fun anymore."

"Kaige?!" Casper shouted.

"Correct! Five points to the ghost!" she cheered, clapping sarcastically. "Now, let's get down to business. I want to try out the powers I'm getting from Katrina's soul."

They noticed a glowing red crystal around her neck. "She's got the crystal!" Ra said.

"Obviously," Kaige snorted. "Looks like we're not all geniuses, are we?"

She then summoned a sword that looked like it was made of pure shadow. "This blade can send anyone it stabs in the heart into nonexistence. Wonder why Katrina never used it?"

She then launched a series of attacks on the group. Violet and Edgar were handling it pretty well, why on earth were they so fast? Fatch was doing better than the rest, they were barely able to avoid Kaige's sword.

Kaige frowned. "This is boring." The sword vanished. She waved her hand at Violet and Edgar, sending a black mist to envelop them, rendering them unable to move. "Much better. Now you two can't help your friends. Perhaps I should call over my pet. Yes, he would be fun. Valemore!"

A giant, two-headed wolf appeared in front of them. "Misstress! You're free!"

"Yes. I know. I've been back almost a month, you dolt. Now, destroy those kids. Better yet, have the vampire prince kill them, but let him live. It will be fun to make him live with the fact that he killed his friends."

Fatch wasn't quite sure what that meant. "Run!" Casper shouted. "The second he touches you, he can control you!" Now he understood. But how hard could it be to dodge an over-sized dog?

A lot harder than it looked. Several tentacles shot out from Valemore's tail, each one racing toward him, and they didn't seem to have an end. Soon, everyone was dodging the tentacles.

Violet and Edgar managed to push their heads out of the mist. "You have to get the crystal away from her!" Violet shouted.

"She's giving power to Valemore!" Edgar added.

"SHUT UP!" Kaige shouted, forcing them back into the mist.

"Clear a path to Kaige!" Zeke hissed. "I can grab the crystal with my L.S.S!"

The others managed a distraction. Bella worked to get Violet and Edgar free while the others got close to Valemore without getting touched by him. Zeke was working his way closer to the demon.

Zeke's mechanical arms shot out, snatching the crystal away from Kaige when Violet and Edgar got free. At that moment, Violet shot a fireball at Kaige. She blocked the flames, but they were diverted to Zeke's arm. The crystal took the force of the blow.


	18. Destruction

**Once again, thank you for reading. While I expect to complete the fic in two more chapters or so, this is definitely NOT the end of the story. I am planning a sequel, so keep an eye out after this one is done!**

**GhostVirtuvirus: Hah. Nice pun.**

**I think this is my shortest chapter ever. Wow. But it sure is important.**

**Song: "Hand of Sorrow" by Within Temptation. I think I'll be using them for the rest of this. You know, you should try listening to some of these songs while you read. **

* * *

><p>Flash knew he had to hurry. If Kaige was using Katrina's soul, this could spell trouble for everyone. Not to mention the fact that Katrina could be hurt.<p>

He was close to Deedstown when he saw it all. He saw Zeke grab the necklace, watched as the fireball hit the crystal, the crystal explode.

"NO!"

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><p>For a brief second, Katrina was right there. Standing in front of them. She looked dazed, wearing exactly what she had when Edgar summoned her- a thin white dress and no shoes. She gave out a small cry, then she dissolved into nothingness.<p>

"K-Katrina," Violet whispered.

Kaige shrieked. "You b****!" she growled. "Look at what you did! You destroyed her! You destroyed my plans!"

Violet fell to her knees. "I killed Katrina?" she whispered, in complete shock.

"Yes, you did," Kaige snarled. "And now you're going to pay." She swooped over and grabbed Violet, pulling her high into the air. Violet didn't even struggle, she was too dazed to fully comprehend what was going on.

Higher and higher they flew, so high Kaige's wings brushed the clouds. Then she let her go.

"VIOLET!" Edgar shrieked.

Violet didn't scream or cry or do anything, really. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Katrina- her mentor, the woman who had been a mother to her- was gone, and she was responsible for it.

She eventually realized the wind blowing past her and the ground getting closer. _I deserve this. I killed her. I need to die._

Much to her surprise, she didn't hit the ground. Someone caught her. She could hear wings flapping, holding her and her savior aloft. She looked into his golden and blue eyes. "Flash?"

"It's all right, Violet. You're safe."

Kaige shrieked with fury. However, she realized she couldn't do much against an angel, specifically the angel of creation, so she and Valemore took off.

Flash landed in front of the stunned group. He was about to put Violet down, but she clung to him even tighter. He looked down. She was crying. All he could really do was hold her close.


	19. Netherworld

**SilversLittleAngel: Well, I'm glad you liked it. I'll explain why Flash is there in the next chapter.**

**GhostVirtuvirus: Do you honestly think I'm _really _going to kill her off?**

**Written to "What have you done?" by Within Temptation. Told you I'd use them again.  
><strong>

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><p>She opened her eyes. She was laying on her back, looking up at a cloudy night sky. It was freezing, snow was starting to fall. She was... where was she? How did she get here? She was flying into the Spooky Woods to think when... what?<p>

She sat up. She was wearing a thin little white dress that provided absolutely zero protection from the cold. She looked around. She was in a clearing of a dead forest. The trees were black, empty. The area was void of any life for miles, she could feel it. So much dark energy... there was more of it that any other place. Not the Seelaina Desert, not even that one time she ended up in Nerezza. She focused. There wasn't a soul in the area. At least, no_ living_ souls. She smiled. She knew exactly where she was, at least the world she was in. She expected she was either in or close to the Valley of Awakening. There should be an abandoned town nearby, and she could prepare for her final destination- the City of Lost Souls.

The walk took about an hour, and the snow was starting to turn into a snowstorm. It was kind of creepy. The town looked like people were still living in it, but no one was there. She found what had once been an inn, and started to locate supplies for the trip. Food, fresh water, a map. She walked upstairs to find some better clothes. Eventually, she managed to put together an outfit. Black sweater and pants, white coat and boots. Black gloves, white scarf. She smiled, walking over to the mirror.

She was a bit surprised at the face looking back at her. Instead of the face that had stared back at her for the past twenty years or so, she saw someone much younger. The face of a teenage Xerador looked back at her, with blood-red eyes and hair to match. Her fox-like ears twitched curiously, and she realized that she still had full control over her tail. She smiled. "This brings back memories," she whispered to herself.

She stepped back into the cold outside, realizing that it was actually pleasant. It was probably below freezing, but she liked it a lot better than the scorching heat of Seelaina. She located a vehicle shed. She needed a Lupallum for the trip, the Elders had told her this when they told her about the place.

She was surprised at what they looked like. They'd said the machines were like giant mechanical wolves, but she was surprised at how accurate the description was. Each one was at least six feet high at the shoulder, with an indentation in the back for the rider. She chose one that was black and white, like her outfit, jumping into the diver's seat. Thankfully, the machine was really easy to maneuver. She took off towards the mountains.

Unlike Dark Witches, Xeradors had to pass a trial to make it to the afterlife. Their afterlife wasn't heaven or hell, it was in the City. The prayers sent through the Memorada helped significantly, though. Some said it was almost impossible to make it through the mountains without family performing the Memorada. Fail and you go to the Abyss.

At first, the trip was easy. The snow stopped, and visibility improved. She stopped to take a break, she was starting to get hungry.

That's when she was attacked. At first she could only hear them- the vaguely metallic hissing of the Shades. Then she saw them, the creatures prowling around her fire. They had long, black, eel-like bodies supported by eight black spider legs. A pair of black tentacles sat in front of the legs. A forked tongue flicked at the air, and four glowing red eyes stared at her.

She took a deep breath. Panicking wouldn't do anything for her. She calmly summoned her weapon, a sword made of pure shadow, and leapt at her attackers. She was doing pretty well, at least until one tackled her to the ground. It's legs held her arms immobile. She could barely struggle as it's fangs came closer to her neck. One bite and she was gone for good. She winced, closing her eyes. Was this the end?

Suddenly, the monster screeched as a sword sliced through it's midsection. It returned to shadow. She was free. Her mysterious savior quickly destroyed the rest of the Shades, then turned to help her up.

"Are you all right?" he asked, pulling off the hood over his head.

Her eyes widened. "William?!"

He smiled. "Hey, Kat. Come on, we need to get back to the City."

"I thought I was supposed to complete the trial on my own."

"Technically, yes. But the thing is, you're not supposed to be dead yet. You have a couple decades, at least. We need to get you back to the City. The angels should figure it out eventually, and you'll get to go back to the real world."

* * *

><p>Everyone walked over to the creature hospital to check on Thatch. Violet was still a wreck, so Flash stayed with her. Apparantly, he knew her since she was little, since her parents and older brother were murdered.<p>

"It's all my fault," she whispered. "Kat's gone, for good."

"Maybe not," Edgar said. "I thought she was gone last time, but there was still a chance. What if she went to the Netherworld?"

Violet tensed. "But, even if she _is _there, how are we gonna bring her back?"

"What's the Netherworld?" Mantha asked.

"At first, it was the world the Xeradors came from," Flash explained. "Now it's their afterlife. There may be a chance her soul made it there."

"I know how to check," Edgar said. "There was this one guy- Damien Malefica- he lost his fiancee a few hundred years ago. He built a mirror that let him see the Netherworld, and used it to find his love. It's called the Spirit Door, mainly because it can also be used to enter the Netherworld as well."

"Well, let's go get it!" Flash said.

"There's one problem. No one knows where it is."

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this fic. Not the end of the story, I'm planning a sequel. But right now, I have other fics I want to work on. See you!<strong>


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